Check Yourself

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This has been a fast week.  It seems that the summer is the shortest season of the year.  There is so much to do, and I still haven’t had my carpet cleaned…and I just feel like I cannot mark things off of my to-do list at the rate I prefer.  Earlier this week, I had to stop and check-in with the Lord.  

In 2010, I wrote a novel called But We’re Not Married.  In the novel, the Pastor preaches five sermons, and each is written in the book.  One of them, Invisible Fence, is based on Psalm 139:1-18. Reverend Cantor recalls passing by a neighbor’s home and seeing the perimeter lined with small white flags and a sign stating, ‘Invisible Fence Dog in Training.’  He then explains to the congregation how the invisible fence system works. The dog is shown his boundaries, and initially he can be reminded of them by the presence of the flags. If the dog crosses the boundary he hears beeping through a device fitted to his neck.  If he doesn’t return inside the boundary, he receives a little shock. After a period of time, the flags are removed, but the dog is expected to remember the boundaries. He says, “But God is not like that, He doesn’t give us immediate cruel or unusual punishments when we disobey, He loves us more than that.  He gives us grace.” 

I thought about this sermon this week, and it’s true we do not receive a notification, necessarily, when we have begun indulging in our free will.  The Lord may give us some signs, but it’s up to us to notice the signs.  And unlike the invisible fence system in which the flags are removed, God never takes His Word away from us, we always have it to reference, and we are encouraged to reference it daily.  The problem is, sometimes we neglect the Word.  I, too, am guilty.   

This week has been a blur, I’ve had extra travel for work.  My sister and her family were here visiting. My husband was away traveling for work.  There has not been a slow day. On Friday, I had to stop and say, “Lord, am I okay? Am I doing Your will, or am I doing my own thing?  And Lord, I need You to talk to me, because You know how quickly I can get out of the fence. ”

​Today, I encourage you, my readers, to check-in with the Lord.  Ask Him if you are within His will, or if you are doing your own thing.  There’s an old rap song that says, “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.”  Do that today, please. It’s important to know where you stand. I’m not referring so much to whether or not you are saved, but within your walk, are you walking alone or are you walking with the Lord.  Has He ordered the steps you are taking or are you doing what you want because you’re grown? I’m not pointing fingers, here, just asking questions - the same questions I have asked myself.  

Psalm 139: 1-18
1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?
8  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11  If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12  Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for
       darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,  
       I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
       when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your  
      book before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand-- when I awake, I am
      still with you.

​AMEN!
Thank you for reading! 
​Please share this post with someone you love. 
​Kim

My Book Revue is
​scheduled for
Sunday, September 29, 2019 in Rock Hill, SC. 
More info to come!